Not really, EastEnders always rates unusually high on Christmas Day as many are forced to watch it by family members for one day only.

I was chatting to a colleague yesterday about Christmas TV. She said she never watches EastEnders but will watch it at Christmas as it's "always dramatic". I think it will still be top soap of the day, but likely to be down on last year's which would be consistent with how it's performed this year.

Incidentally she's a massive fan of Downton Abbey but won't be watching it live on the day...

The final of Xfactor US drew a 1.7 on Thurs down on the 3.1 for 2012. Beaten by a repeat of The Big Bang Theory and matched by repeats of The Millers, Saturday Night Live and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

ITV are being clever with its broadcasts against EE. Champion League football, splitting Emmerdale then placing a variety of programme suited to the anti- EE brigade.

I believe the Friday episode consolidates the best of the bunch. I would shift it to Wednesday on a trial basis to boost other BBC programmes.

The only problem is after May 2015, ITV will have very little live football on Tuesday nights. Maybe they could then revert to showing two hour dramas and films, which would provide a decent alternative to Holby City. Also some of the group matches for the ECL haven't been rating well in the last two seasons, with the most recent one only attracting 3.4 million viewers.

Well I wouldn't write anything off. Charlotte Moore has said EE is her number one priority and the show has been given more cash. So the BBC are realising how important EastEnders is to them and taking its long term success seriously for the first time in years. Unlike previous BBC One bosses who sat with their fingers in their **** and pretended it was all ok when it wasn't.

Dont know why people are surprised EastEnders is down on it's weakest night against Text Santa. I said yesterday it will rate in the high 5's and it has. I fully expect Mondays ratings to be high 7's/8m with Tuesday getting the highest figure since January. The 'New' EastEnders starts xmas day according to critics.

Dont know why people are surprised EastEnders is down on it's weakest night against Text Santa. I said yesterday it will rate in the high 5's and it has. I fully expect Mondays ratings to be high 7's/8m with Tuesday getting the highest figure since January. The 'New' EastEnders starts xmas day according to critics.

EE is reviving again and TS was bound to knock two million off. I think next year we should see EE back to 8 million. Also it has the demos ITV soaps often lack: southern and young.

Dont know why people are surprised EastEnders is down on it's weakest night against Text Santa. I said yesterday it will rate in the high 5's and it has. I fully expect Mondays ratings to be high 7's/8m with Tuesday getting the highest figure since January. The 'New' EastEnders starts xmas day according to critics.

But if EastEnders is rating lower than last year opposite Text Santa, dips against competition do you expect it to rate like last year on Christmas Day?

That's low. Suffering from Christmas party season. But BBC1 was lower than that between 8.30-11.00pm? Yikes!

I still think it's a reasonable rating for a long show like this. Text Santa is easy going and probably not that expensive to make and so long as it stays around 5 million, I can see it lasting a few years on ITV.

As Robbie said, a low rating for Text Santa. All that effort put in for just 4.6m viewers, half of what the BBC telethons achieve and raising only a tenth of Children in need. Some would say why do they even bother- why don't Itv just scrap it and donate the money themselves.

As Robbie said, a low rating for Text Santa. All that effort put in for just 4.6m viewers, half of what the BBC telethons achieve and raising only a tenth of Children in need. Some would say why do they even bother- why don't Itv just scrap it and donate the money themselves.